3 Funding Agencies Accelerate Economic Development

Three Funding Agencies Join Forces To Accelerate Economic Development

“We aim to focus all our resources to do everything possible to accelerate the rate of economic development of this country,” said the Chairman of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Phil Lough, as he announced the intention of three of the Government’s most influential funding agencies to work much more closely together.

In the future the leadership of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, the Tertiary Education Commission and the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology will co-ordinate their decision-making and their allocation of funds.

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise is responsible for implementing the Government’s economic strategy.

“We need new workforce skills and fresh knowledge generated by R&D for this strategy to get real traction. Consequently there’s a big premium to be gained from our working ever more closely with the Commission and the Foundation” said Phil Lough.

This new alliance will focus on four simple objectives.

“In a nutshell we aim to make it easier for industry to work with Government. Better co-ordination will give the Government’s Growth and Innovation Framework extra impetus. We can accelerate the development of firms and industry sectors. And, most importantly, together we can help make a timely and durable increase to the country’s rate of productivity growth” said Tertiary Education Commission Chair Andrew West.

The Chair of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, Neil Richardson, stressed the nature of the new alliance. “This will be a long-lasting partnership. The leadership of all three organisations, both governance and management, will meet four times annually. This will allow us to identify priority areas of business and industry around which our three agencies will focus. To raise rates of productivity growth we will work closely with firms, industries, tertiary education organisations, Crown Research Institutes and other relevant parties”.

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